As it happened: Updates after data leak exposes secrets of the rich

As we've mentioned, the BBC is one of more than 140 different media organisations involved in investigating the papers. Here's a snapshot of some of our partners' websites.

In India...

BBCCopyright: BBC

The UK's Guardian newspaper...

BBCCopyright: BBC

Radio France Internationale...

BBCCopyright: BBC

And the Washington Post...

BBCCopyright: BBC

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Some 35 current and former world leaders were mentioned in the papers, which have been pored over by hundreds of journalists.

Here’s what some of our partner organisations have found:

• Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and six members of his family secretly owned a network of offshore companies. They have been linked to 11 firms - one of which was valued as holding assets of $30m
• As we heard earlier, members of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families, secretly own companies and trusts holding millions of dollars
• The law firm founded by President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus appears to have provided fake owners to disguise the real owner of a series of offshore companies - a former Russian politician who had been accused of embezzlement. However, the law firm denies this
• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky transferred his stake in a secret offshore company just before he won the 2019 election
• Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso, a former banker, replaced a Panamanian foundation that made monthly payments to his close family members with a trust based in South Dakota in the US.

Still getting to grips with what the Pandora Papers are all about? Read our simple guide here.

Charities and campaigners have been responding to the Pandora Papers.

Anti-poverty group Oxfam called the release "another shocking exposé of the oceans of money sloshing around the darkness of the world’s tax havens that must prompt immediate action, as has long been promised".

The group's international tax policy lead Susana Ruiz called offshore finance "a secret parallel system of capital" that was "open only to those with fat amounts of money and the greed to hoard it all untaxed".

She added:

Quote Message: This is where our missing hospitals are. This is where the pay-packets sit of all the extra teachers and firefighters and public servants we need. Whenever a politician or business leader claims there is ‘no money’ to pay for climate damage and innovation, for more and better jobs, for a fair post-Covid recovery, for more overseas aid, they know where to look.

This is where our missing hospitals are. This is where the pay-packets sit of all the extra teachers and firefighters and public servants we need. Whenever a politician or business leader claims there is ‘no money’ to pay for climate damage and innovation, for more and better jobs, for a fair post-Covid recovery, for more overseas aid, they know where to look.

Big financial leaks like these are undoubtedly complicated.

At their heart, they involve financial schemes most of us have never heard of, and people who might seem far removed from our day-to-day life.

So why should you care?

Fergus Shiel, from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which organised the world-wide investigation of the files, says some people are using offshore accounts “to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens”.

And Lakshmi Kumar, from the think tank Global Financial Integrity, says the ability of people to hide money has a direct impact on all of our lives through, for example, lost tax revenues.

“It affects your child's access to education, access to health, access to a home,” she says.

And Gerard Ryle - also from the ICIJ - explains that it shows “the people that could end the secrecy offshore - could end what's going on - are themselves benefiting from it. So there's no incentive for them to end it.”

Some reaction now to the release of the Pandora Papers. One of the revelations is that Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family have secretly acquired a large amount of UK property using offshore companies.

Anti-corruption campaigners Transparency International called the papers a "wake up call" for the UK government.

“Once again Britain’s role as an enabler of global corruption and money laundering has been exposed with the same loopholes exploited to funnel suspect wealth into the country," said Duncan Hames, Director of Policy at Transparency International UK.

"Not only does this damage the UK’s reputation as a country governed by the rule of law, but it enriches corrupt elites around the world at the expense of their populations. No one benefits from this system but them."

The BBC approached the Aliyev family for comment but received no response.

The UK government says it is cracking down on money laundering with tougher laws and enforcement, and that it will introduce a register of offshore companies owning UK property when parliamentary time allows.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The Pandora Papers also show how Azerbeijan’s ruling Aliyev family secretly acquired 17 properties – including a £33m London office block officially for the president’s 11-year-old son Heyder Aliyev.

The family has been long accused of corruption in the central Asian nation.

The building in Mayfair was bought in 2009 by a front company owned by a family friend of President Ilham Aliyev. It was transferred one month later to the president’s son, Hedyer.

Another office block owned by the family was sold in 2018 for £66m to the Crown Estate – the Queen’s property empire that is managed by the Treasury and raises cash for the UK.

When we asked the Crown Estate about the purchase, it said it carried out checks at the time but is now looking into the matter.

Read the full story here.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

It’s been 14 years since former Labour prime minister Tony Blair left No 10 with his wife Cherie by his side.Since then, Mr Blair is reported to have made millions advising foreign governments and multinational companies.

Although the full range of his business activities has never been disclosed, in 2016 Mr Blair was reported to have been paid £2m a year alone by bank JP Morgan after leaving office.

He has since focused on his not-for-profit organisation which, according to its website, aims to “help political leaders build open, inclusive and prosperous societies”.

Cherie is a human rights barrister and runs a legal advisory firm, Omnia Strategy, as well as a foundation for women.

The couple acquired an office for her two organisations through an offshore company – a method she said was insisted on by those who sold it to them.

As we’ve just been saying, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie saved £312,000 in stamp duty tax in 2017 when buying a property in London.

The four-floor building is now home to Mrs Blair’s legal advisory firm, Omnia Strategy, and her foundation for women.

Let’s look at how they did it:

BBCCopyright: BBC

Mrs Blair said the sellers had insisted the building was sold in this way – but she said they’d now brought it under UK control, meaning capital gains tax would be due if they sold it.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The papers reveal how former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair saved £312,000 in stamp duty tax in 2017 when buying a London townhouse for £6.45m.

Instead of buying the property directly - and paying the tax that comes with that - he and his wife Cherie bought an offshore company that owned the building.

No laws were broken and there’s no suggestion the Blairs hid their wealth, but Mr Blair has previously criticised people who “can employ the right accountants”, saying “the tax system is a haven of scams, perks, City deals and profits”.

Mrs Blair said the sellers had insisted the building was sold in this way but they had brought it under UK control – and that it would be liable for capital gains tax if it was resold.

Read the full story on the Blairs here.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has pledged to investigate "all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers" and take action if wrongdoing is found.

It comes after the papers revealed how members of Mr Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families, secretly own companies and trusts holding millions of dollars.

Welcoming the global investigation into the papers, Mr Khan said on Twitter: "My over-two decades struggle has been premised on the belief that countries are not poor but corruption causes poverty because money is diverted from being invested in our people."

He added: "I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis."

What’s the story? The secret wealth of hundreds of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest ever leaks of financial documents.

What have they done? Many of the files involve no legal wrongdoing, but some figures face allegations of corruption, money laundering and global tax avoidance.

Where can I read more? Our main story here runs through all the big findings - so far - and our simple guide to the story is here.

Why does this sound familiar? It is the latest in a string of leaks over the past seven years, following the FinCen Files, the Paradise Papers, the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks.

As we’ve been discussing, the King of Jordan has secretly acquired luxury homes in Malibu, California and Washington DC, as well as London and the English town of Ascot.

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

When the BBC approached King Abdullah for comment, his lawyers said the information about his properties was not accurate or up to date. They said he’d bought them with his personal wealth.

In short, pretty massive: almost 12 million leaked files make up the Pandora Papers.

They come from 14 financial services companies in countries including the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland.

Combing through them has been the work of the biggest journalism partnership in history.

It’s taken 600 journalists - from more than half the world’s countries - several months to pick out the stories you’ll see over the next few days.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

One of the people we’ve been hearing about is the King of Jordan, who secretly spent more than £70m ($100m) on a string of properties in the UK and US.

Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein has been King of Jordan for 22 years and is seen as a moderate Western ally in the Middle East.

The 59-year-old rules a country of 10 million people and has the power to appoint governments and approve legislation.

Jordan isn’t a wealthy country and receives international aid. The British government is one of its biggest financial backers and is giving £650m over five years.

BBCCopyright: BBC

King Abdullah’s sprawling property portfolio built up between 2003 and 2017.

At the same time, he has been accused of presiding over an authoritarian regime at home - with protests taking place in recent years amid austerity measures and tax rises.

Annelle Sheline, a Middle East analyst, says: “It's just very, very difficult for the average Jordanian to achieve a basic level of home and family, and a good job.

“So to have it really thrown in Jordanians’ faces that he's just been funneling money abroad all this time? That would look really bad.”

As we said earlier, lawyers for the king say he’s done nothing improper. They said he’d bought the houses with his personal wealth, which is also used to fund projects for Jordanians.

The Pandora Papers investigation is the largest ever organised by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – they’re the group that looked into a string of other leaks you might’ve heard of including the FinCen Files (2020), Paradise Papers (2017) and Panama Papers (2016).

“There’s never been anything on this scale,” says Fergus Shiel, the ICIJ’s managing editor. “It shows the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax."

And his colleague Gerard Ryle says: “We are talking about some of the most famous people in the world that are in these documents. Presidents, prime ministers, government ministers…

“We’re not looking at a couple of million dollars here. We’re looking at trillions of dollars.”

BBCCopyright: BBC

One of the most powerful people named in the Pandora Papers is the King of Jordan.

The leak reveals a network of secretly-owned companies used by Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein to spend more than £70m ($100m) on 15 homes since he became king in 1999.

The properties include three ocean-view homes in Malibu, California purchased for £50m ($68m) and properties in some of London’s most exclusive streets.

The people who set up the companies for the king were careful not to identify him – in one internal document he’s called “You know who”.

Lawyers for King Abdullah said he had used his personal wealth to buy the properties and that there was nothing improper about him using offshore companies to do so. They also said that he uses his wealth to fund projects for Jordan’s citizens.

Read our full story here.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The papers are named after the Greek myth of Pandora’s box. In the tale, Pandora opens a sealed box containing the forces of evil and suffering which, once released, were uncontainable.

Gerard Ryle, the director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which organised the world-wide investigation of the files, says this leak was given the name because “we're opening a box on a lot of things”.

Read more in our simple guide here.

BBC Panorama’s Pandora Papers: Secrets of World Leaders Exposed is on now. Watch live on BBC One – or press play at the top of this page (UK only).

And if you’re reading this post in the UK later on, you can watch it back on iPlayer here.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Some 35 current and former world leaders and more than 300 public officials from 91 countries are named in the Pandora Papers.

Today, we reveal how:

• The King of Jordan spent more than £70m on 15 overseas homes - while the country he rules over is given hundreds of millions of pounds in aid by the UK and US
• Azerbaijan’s ruling family, the Aliyevs, secretly acquired UK property using offshore companies, including a £30m London office block for the president’s 11-year-old son
• Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie purchased a London office by buying an offshore company. While there is no suggestion the Blairs hid their wealth, the structure of the deal meant they did not have to pay £312,000 in UK tax.

More than 140 media organisations are covering the hundreds of stories that have been unearthed from the papers – with BBC Panorama and the Guardian leading the investigation in the UK – so sit tight, there’s plenty to come.